Chapter 170
Built To Run
John was concerned about Cameron and her recent behavior. Cameron was away from the base for several days now. He became worried. He asked John Henry to search for any gun battles, or violent disturbances, which may have occurred in the last few days. There were none, at least none were reported.
"I haven't found any." John Henry said.
John was still dissatisfied. He needed a better answer. He needed some kind of answer anyway.
"Maybe there's something else." John said.
John Henry was aware Cameron seemed to have a way of finding trouble when she wanted to. Well, if it didn't find her first. There could be a multitude of other events she may have been involved in. Some of them may seem like accidents, either by design, or by luck.
"I'll check for any other 'events'." John Henry said.
John Henry searched for any unusual events which may have occurred. He found something even more troubling. He quickly double checked all of the information. The more he looked into it, the more he became concerned. There was actually a major event. It was something he picked up on one of the news feeds earlier but didn't see how it applied to the Resistance and ignored it. It didn't appear to be Skynet related either.
"I think we have something." John Henry said. "You're not going to like it."
John seldom did. By the very nature of John Henry's answer, it was probably going to be some type of extreme event, even if it didn't seem directly related to them.
"Spill it." John said. "We need to know where we stand."
John Henry reiterated to John the recent events which unfolded on Donner Pass. He went over all the details from the crew and witnesses who all told the same story. It appeared a teenage girl helped save over a hundred lives. It was done in a very unusual way with what appeared to be 'gifted' abilities.
There was one eyewitness who actually interacted directly with the girl as the events progressed. His story was discounted at first as 'unbelievable'. The old man was sure of what he saw and how the girl removed him from the locomotive and continued on alone.
"The report said the old man was assisted by a very strong girl named 'Allison'. It's believed she perished in the pile up which resulted." John Henry said. "She got him to safety and continued on her own 'alone'. He said she operated the locomotive like an 'Old Hogger'."
It sounded like Cameron to John. He didn't think any type of machinery would be beyond her ability after she studied it for a short time.
"Let's hope she didn't perish." John said very worried.
John Henry scoured the reports further.
"There was evidently a 'boiler explosion' when the steam locomotive collided with the runaway freight cars." John Henry said. "It prevented the runaway train from impacting the derailed passenger train stuck in the tunnel, and the large loss of life which was sure to have followed."
A new fear gripped John. The true nature of the explosion probably wasn't known.
"Was it a 'boiler explosion', or a 'ruptured power cell'?" John asked. "A ruptured power cell would probably do massive damage to the track and surrounding area."
John Henry could only find reference to a boiler explosion. So far there were no photographs from the accident site. There was footage coming in from the initial derailment of the train. It was clear there was nowhere for the majority of the passengers to go before the runaway freight cars would have impacted at the original accident site.
"I'm unable to make any determination as to the nature of the explosion, or explosions." John Henry said. "We need more information. I've already redirected several satellites to pass over the location. We should be able to get detailed photos within the hour."
John was very concerned at what they were going to view.
"I think we need to go there." John said. "You need to take control of the information leaving the accident site."
John Henry set a response in motion.
"I have the corporate jet waiting for our arrival. We can fly to Lake Tahoe. It's the closest location to the activity. We can be there in just over an hour." John Henry said. "We need to leave now. JH will control the narrative of information."
Holly and Bob arrived during the briefing.
"I'm going too." Bob said.
Holly was just as concerned as Bob was.
"I'm as well." Holly added.
John thought some extra muscle would be good. If Cameron was malfunctioning, and thought she was 'Allison' again, she could do anything. He wanted to use caution. He didn't want to leave them vulnerable at the base either.
"Get the base on alert and everyone on their toes." John said. "We don't know the extent of what we're dealing with, or what propagated the situation Cameron is currently in. She may be damaged after an attack for all we know."
Soon everyone was there at the Command Center and wanted to go.
Savannah was there as well. She looked at the entire group assembled. She could instantly see the parallel to the 'Day Of Loss'. She believed she was best qualified to be able to calm Cameron down if it became necessary. Since the nature of the threat was unknown, it was unlikely she would be allowed to go. They still didn't know if Skynet was involved. She moved up next to John.
"Don't make the same mistake again." Savannah whispered in his ear.
John was taken aback for a moment. He looked at the group in the Command Center. He quickly realized what she meant. Savannah was right.
"We're not going to do THIS again." John said. "We're going to take the smallest team possible to handle a situation."
John remembered 'The Day Of Loss' where everyone went to help Cameron. They ended up with four dead, no, five dead, the baby too. He wasn't going to do a repeat performance of the event. He was the one who allowed it to happen. He wanted to help. All he did is make everything worse.
There was a round of protests from those assembled.
Savannah gave John a stern look.
John nodded slightly at Savannah and faced the group.
"Bob and Holly are going with me. That's it, no discussion." John said. "We don't know enough yet to go on. We may need to dispatch teams to other locations. We don't know how widespread any of this is."
John Henry asked John if he could go too. He reminded John his server could do the same thing as he could.
John wanted him to 'clean up' or bury as much as possible related to what Cameron did. He wanted to keep her out of the news and didn't want any photos of her to show up anywhere. They also needed to find out what propagated the entire incident. It may be they hadn't even uncovered the real issue yet.
They left the base and headed to Van Nuys Airport and took off in the waiting jet. There were no updates as they flew.
The plane landed fifty minutes later in Lake Tahoe.
Earlier:
The girl knew she needed to get away from the site of the train wreck. She could hear vehicle traffic above her. She climbed up the steep icy mountainside. She came across a road.
A car passed by, it was oblivious to the carnage in the canyon below. There was a female driver. She watched the girl come over the railing from the cliff below. The car slowed and stopped.
The window came down on the side of the car.
"Are you OK?" The woman asked.
The girl looked around. She didn't know where she was. There was a road, and a lot of snow and ice. There was nothing else. She didn't know where she wanted to go.
"I don't know. I'm lost." The girl said.
The woman looked the girl over. There were a lot of things which didn't add up. The biggest issue seemed to be her clothing.
"Where's your coat?" The woman asked. "It's freezing outside."
The girl looked at her arms. They were bare.
"I don't know." The girl said.
The woman was dissatisfied with her response. The girl must have come from somewhere. She must be headed somewhere.
"Where are you trying to go?" The woman asked.
The girl looked around at the snowy landscape.
"I don't know." The girl said.
The woman wondered what the extent of the problem was.
"Where did you come from?" The woman asked.
The girl brushed some snow and ice off of her clothing.
"I don't know." The girl said.
The woman frowned. There was a deeper fear in the back of her mind.
"How did you get here?" The woman asked.
The girl couldn't remember anything.
"I don't know." The girl said.
The woman was very concerned about the girl. There was something else wrong. Over the years, there were stories about what happened to females out on their own in the wilderness areas. It was time to do something.
"Get in. I'll take you into Lake Tahoe." The woman said. "I'm not going to leave you here alone in the cold."
The woman noted the girl seemed to be in a daze. She tried again for some answers. She was really worried 'something else' may have happened to the girl.
"What's your name? Why are you out in this weather alone?" The woman asked. "Were you in an accident? Is there a vehicle somewhere? Did someone ra… 'abuse' you?"
The girl looked down at her body.
"I don't know." The girl said.
The woman was worried and frustrated at this point.
"You don't know - what?" The woman asked.
The girl looked even more confused now.
"I don't know anything you just asked me. My name may be 'Allison'. I don't know." The girl said. "I just can't remember. Nothing is there. It's not clicking. I don't know where I am. I'm not even sure who I am."
The woman touched the girl as she drove. She hoped there was no frostbite. She figured she must have been in a vehicle until very recently.
"You don't feel cold. You must not have been out too long. Did anyone 'touch' you?" The woman asked. "Was there an accident? Was there anyone else with you?"
The girl looked down at her body again. She remembered someone previously 'touched' her before. She thought she wanted to be touched by them. It seemed like it was a long time ago. She couldn't remember who it was. Somehow it was the same person, but they were older and younger, at the same time.
"I want to go home." The girl said.
The woman hoped it was a 'break' she could work with. She was afraid the girl was abused and dumped to die in the cold. It happened up in the mountains sometimes.
"Where's home at?" The woman asked.
The girl tilted her head to the side slightly. She remembered where home was.
"The future…." The girl said. "My home is in the future."
The woman looked at the girl for a moment. She wasn't sure what to do next. She didn't want to provoke some type of an incident. She knew she needed to get this girl some medical attention. She seemed to be withdrawing into herself to 'survive'.
The girl looked straight ahead as the car drove. Her face was blank. Her eyes didn't blink.
The woman was sure the girl must have been 'abused'. She could see how beautiful she was. It would be tempting for a trucker to try and put the grab on her. Maybe it was a group of college students, or a rogue gang of bikers.
The blank look on the girl's face was unnerving. It was the look of 'nothing', and 'death', at the same time.
The jet landed in Lake Tahoe without incident. There was a four wheel drive SUV waiting for them. John told the pilots to wait on standby and have the jet refueled and ready to fly. They said they would take care of everything.
John was in contact with John Henry. There was no new news. The satellite images didn't reveal anything conclusive. They decided to head for the derailment site. There was a road above the tracks which paralleled them near the location. He might send Bob down to take a look at the wreckage. Parts of her endoskeleton may be scattered around the area. They should be able to tell if a power cell ruptured by the extent of the damage to the landscape.
What was Cameron doing there? John wondered. She disappeared several days ago and no one was able to track her. He was sure this was like a previous 'episode' she experienced. She must not remember who she was again. He remembered the happy look on her face when he found her in the halfway house. He didn't believe he ever saw her look happier since then either. He spoiled it when he told her what she was and where she was from.
John told John Henry to scrub or sanitize the reports as soon as they came in about any mention of Cameron or Allison. He only knew Cameron was capable of great destruction if she were pushed in the wrong direction. If she went on a rampage, she could kill hundreds of people. If the authorities showed up, she would more than likely begin to take their weapons and use them against them and the people around her. It could turn into a total bloodbath.
If John hadn't heard the reports Cameron prevented the loss of lives, he might have thought she caused the derailment. Then again, she still may have for some unknown reason. Maybe she was after a Gray or something and she didn't want them to get away. Maybe she was damaged in one or more different ways.
The woman was worried when the girl no longer responded to anything. Her eyes were closed now. She spotted an ambulance and flagged it down.
The ambulance attendant didn't want to get involved at first. He thought it was a domestic dispute. The woman urged him to just take a look.
He did and the initial findings weren't good. There were no vital signs.
"She's dead. She has no pulse, no heartbeat, and isn't breathing." The ambulance attendant said. "We're going to need to notify the authorities."
The woman looked at the girl still sitting in her car. She still looked the same. It couldn't be right.
"But I was just talking to her a couple of minutes ago." The woman said.
The girl opened her eyes and looked around.
The ambulance attendant nearly fell over.
"What the Hell?" The ambulance attendant asked.
He was startled and shocked.
He quickly ushered the girl into the ambulance. It headed for the local hospital.
The girl didn't like all the attention. It bothered her because someone kept touching her.
The ambulance attendant worked frantically on the girl.
"How is she doing?" The driver asked as he glanced back.
The ambulance attendant wasn't sure. Her eyes were open and she seemed very upset.
"None of the machines are working. Everything shows she's still 'dead'." The ambulance attendant said. "I've never seen anything like it."
The driver felt a little sad. The girl was a real beauty. What a waste.
"Maybe we lost her." The driver said.
The ambulance attendant could see she was still 'alive'.
"Dead people don't cry." The ambulance attendant said.
The girl didn't like being confined. She could see she was in some type of metal box. She remembered there was another time when she was in a metal box and couldn't get out. It was just her mind somehow. She didn't have a body then.
"Let me out." The girl sobbed.
The girl looked around. She was frightened at the enclosed space and medical equipment. It reminded her of some evil place where she was at before. It was different from the metal box. She only remembered bad things happened there. There was a lot of screaming and dead people. She could still hear the screams inside her mind. They were terrible.
John was about to contact John Henry when he contacted them.
"I received a report of someone jumping out of an ambulance. They are possibly named Allison." John Henry said.
John wanted everything to stay out of the 'news'.
"Scrub it." John said. "Don't let any of this information go anywhere. Crash whatever systems you need to, to do it."
John Henry gave them the location. It was five miles from where they were. The incident happened an hour and five minutes ago.
"If she runs, she could be miles away from there by now in any direction." John Henry said. "I'm on all traffic cameras and security feeds in the area. There aren't a whole lot of them on the outskirts of town."
Bob and Holly tried to cheer John up. They reassured him they could handle any situation which arose. Holly kept looking at him with worried eyes. Bob drove.
Holly took John's hand.
John looked at her.
"I'll fix this." Holly said. "I promise."
John wondered if there was still some 'Cameron' left on Holly's chip, or if it was her own real concern.
The girl ran from the ambulance and evaded any attempts from them to reacquire her. She passed through several back alleys and over a few fences. She spotted a group of fancy looking buildings. She headed towards those. The colored lights caught her attention.
She walked into one structure. It was a casino. The noises inside there intrigued her. She found a twenty dollar bill in her pocket. She sat at a 'Black Jack' table and soon won several thousand dollars, and an audience to go along with it.
She wondered what kind of a game it was. She was able to know what all the cards were, or would be. She wasn't really sure how. When she reached twenty thousand dollars after winning every hand she played, several men came out to 'talk' to her.
It seemed as if things were about to go from bad to worse.
John Henry contacted John's team again.
"I have her. She is in a casino and has been detained." John Henry said.
He quickly gave Bob the location.
John figured whatever happened was about to get worse.
"Scrub the footage, jam all cell and phone traffic." John said. "Jam radio traffic as well. Jam everything."
John knew this was about to go from worse to catastrophic.
The girl was highly agitated when some people interrupted her 'game'.
"Where are you taking me?" The girl asked.
They were now in an isolated area out of the public view.
A woman approached her and patted her down.
The girl didn't like being touched. Only one person was allowed to touch her, she could not remember who.
"Get your hands off of me." The girl said.
The female finished her search anyway.
"There's nothing on her." The woman stated. "No phone, ID, keys, or money."
The men went to lead the girl away.
The girl stopped.
"I don't want to go with you. I want to go back and play. It was fun to play." The girl said. "I want to get some more money so I can play more. I like winning. I never lose."
The girl turned and started to walk away.
One of the men quickly put handcuffs on her.
It was the 'last straw' for the girl.
She snapped the handcuffs instantly. She then sent both men and the women flying in different directions.
One of the men drew a firearm. The girl reached over and snatched the pistol out of his hand. They all stopped and backed up. They watched as she held the snapped handcuff on each wrist with her fingers and tore the metal open. The girl pointed the gun at each of them. She could see they were terrified. She stuck the pistol behind her back.
"Don't make me hurt you." The girl said. "I don't like to hurt people. Well, people who don't deserve it. I will if they do."
She approached the two men first. They thought they could 'take her'. She slammed the two men together and sent the woman flying with a shove. All three were down and out.
The girl spotted some security cameras. She wanted to make a clean getaway. She decided to use a diversion to mask her escape route. She walked to the closest fire alarm and pulled it.
All Hell broke loose.
Closing monologue by Cameron:
It's Like A Bomb
We see each other
Every single day
We never communicate
Even if words we say
I know what I think
I know what I feel
But as I look around
I don't know what is real
We can smile
We can laugh
As long as our feelings
Are bottled in a carafe
The emotions we hide
As to ourselves we lie
When the future awaits us
The limit is the sky
I may seem happy
Or even act calm
When my mind erupts
It's like a bomb
Nobody